


I guess you could say my arrow hit you

by MyDestinyIsWritten



Series: Maiko Week 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Modern AU, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29477700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDestinyIsWritten/pseuds/MyDestinyIsWritten
Summary: It's a quick one-shot of a modern Maiko AU, yay!
Relationships: Mai and Zuko - Relationship, Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Maiko Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213646
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	I guess you could say my arrow hit you

Mai stepped her feet apart, parallel to each other so she was standing sideways, her torso twisted to the side so she could direct her bow towards the target.

Eye focused on the bullseye, she bit her cheek and raised the bow a couple more inches before bringing back the drawstring and releasing her two fingers from underneath the nocking point, she let the arrow ‘ _ zip! _ ’ through the air.

She didn’t have her archery class today but it seemed like a nice day with the grass curling with cold morning dew to shoot some arrows and release some exam stress with her bow.

Finals were coming up in the next couple months and it wasn’t that she wasn’t smart - she was plenty of that - finals just got all of her knots tied up, especially because her mom was the principal and her dad was a well-esteemed faculty member. Her parents were always fussing over the school’s average final scores and that just made her even more stressed about her score, her parents had a school to worry about, if she didn’t get a good score that’d just be another thing for them to worry about, she couldn’t do that to them.

She’d started archery when she was 12 and even now, 5 years later, it was her source of comfort.

The way the wind would brush her hair and she’d pull back the drawstring so that it’d strain her arm, with her fingers cool against her cheek as she released the arrow to zoom through the arrow, hitting its mark most times.

Mai drew in a deep breath of the cold air, nocking another arrow, feeling the familiar motion of getting to release the arrow-

“Excuse me?”

_ Shit _

The bow flipped out of her hands as the arrow released the wrong way, coming back and making the string vibrate as the fletching came and bounced off her cheek. Somehow the arrow ended up on the ground halfway between her and the person who’d caused her to lose her focus and she looked up, trying to give them a glare.

She couldn’t though, because he looked so  _ guilty _ and sorry that all the harsh edges in her face came crashing down.

“It’s after hours, the field is closed” she spoke instead.

“Yeah, I know, uh..I’m really sorry about interrupting,” he said with an awkward glance.

He started forward at the same time as Mai to pick up the discarded arrow and she brushed him off, picking the arrow up herself as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, “Sorry” he said again.

She raised an eyebrow, “what are you doing here?”

“Oh, right!” his eyes lit up, “I was supposed to be here earlier for a meeting but there was a lot of traffic and- oh, i’m new” he grinned holding out a hand “I’m Zuko”

“Mai” she shook his hand and nudged her head towards the main offices, “It’s pretty late but i’m pretty sure my parents are still in the building”

“Your parents-? Oh, thanks!”

He turned around to walk off and suddenly Mai’s mouth was moving and she invited him to a round of archery.

“Just..if you’d wanna try it, really fast?” 

“Ok” he smiled.

She had to fix his position a bunch of times before it was even decent but then he was shooting and in the least offensive way possible, he sucked, terribly.

It was practically obligatory to laugh when one of the arrows flew  _ way _ too high and got stuck in the fence behind the targets, he shot her a wounded look and she smiled harder.

She won (28 to 8, if you had to know) and she quickly put everything away once they’d finished, leading him towards her parents’ offices.

“You know, it's pretty late in the year to be joining a school” she questioned

“Yeah, I know. Transfer, just some family problems” 

“Hey, i’m not judging, just curious” she shrugged

She didn’t see him till two hours later when he walked out of the building, arms full of books and askew papers.

It was late outside, the sun had already set and the campus was already cleared out, “You know, I would’ve thought you’d left by now”

She helped him with some of his books and a loose paper slipped to the ground, his schedule.

She looked over it, “We have the same Math period on Wednesdays and Fridays. 

“Cool”

“Yup”

His car was parked in the main parking lot so it was much easier to carry all the supplies.

He opened the trunk to put his stuff in and she followed suit, putting everything together and trying in vain to push it into a neater pile.

“You know, you’re going to be pretty behind”

He groaned, “I know”, the beeping of the trunk closing echoed across the empty lot.

“I could help you if you’d like” she didn’t know where these words were coming from.

“That’d be awesome!” 

“..and maybe fix up your archery skills”

He grimaced, “I was pretty bad, wasn’t I” remembering all the missed targets and lost arrows.

She snorted, “Yup”

Before he stepped into the car she passed him the schedule, waved and walked off.

With a happy grin he realised a phone number was written down, under the obnoxious lettering for science.

At least, he’d know one person here.

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I swear at this point i'm actually annoyed i have to re-upload all of my fics because of my mom but here's another one, this one was written for Maiko week on tumblr, modern AU!


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